I was looking around for a nice leather whistle case and I came across this interesting photo:
I think the label says “Suzuki”. It was from an obscure website and it did not have much information aside from it being a whistle.
Has anyone ever run into these? Does anyone have any info on these at all? My research has been fruitless.
The one on the right is interesting because it looks like it has a leather wrapped tuning slide. The one on the left looks like a clare or an eagle two-piece whistle but with a nice aluminium head. I love whistles that can be broken down. I think they both look lovely. I have no idea how they might play though.
I hope to find some info about these whistles here. Thanks!
Yes, McAfee began flashing warnings when I tried ‘view image’.
Whistles are used as a starting (pre-Suzuki) instrument in the the Suzuki music teaching method, the sticker may well be related to a Suzuki teaching institute rather than the brand name. An image search fails to bring up that logo.
very interesting method of teaching music by Shinichi Suzuki.
It’s very effective. There’s a Suziki group in Ennis, you recognise the young fiddlers taught there (they often double up here learning traditional music elsewhere) by the white strips of label/sticker on the fingerboard as a sort of fret/reference where the fingers go.
I learned flute by the Suzuki method. I think its a fantastic way to learn, at least to start. I went into more traditional tutelage after that which was also very valuable but I think Suzuki is peerless for trad as it encourages ear learning, listening, music reading and writing right from the start.
I feel like if Suzuki the instrument company were going to make whistles, They would likely be injection molded plastic, not these beauties. Who knows though, I would love to know who did make them, they look lovely.
Well, the whistle itself isn’t made by Suzuki – that’s not their logo. They do make recorders and pre-recorders, but those are, as others have said, plastic. I can’t find a match under Suzuki schools, academies, methods, etc. either for this particular logo.
The answer may well be as easily found as asking the fellow that makes these cases what kind of whistles he tucked in there! Chances are good they’re his own whistles, and he might even be able to tell you which Suzuki school the label is from.
If I recall correctly, the website I found it from had text in a Japanese language (I’m not sure which though). That aligns well with Suzuki so geographically, Mr. Matsusaka’s SZBE whistles is a plausible source. The construction of the fipple looks very SZBE. They do look as if they were specially made though. I have never seen an SZBE with leather trim. Maybe the second whistle was a Clare/Eagle that was fitted with an SZBE mouthpiece.
I have a couple of theories regarding these whistles based on everyone’s input:
-At some point Suzuki distributed Mr. Matsusaka’s work. (Although I think it is unlikely, as these whistles look like they were tailored for an individual and not just for use of beggining students)
-The more likely theory is that these are the personal whistles of a teacher at Suzuki. He might have slapped stickers on to them so he can lend them to his students and be professional about it.
No less, these whistles are beautiful. Maybe we could from Mr. Matsusaka a line and see if he knows anything about these whistles
They do resemble SZBE whistles, especially the head part.
On a side possible related note, I got my SZBE DP-EXE high D whistle a month ago. It’s fast becoming a favorite of mine, especially with the footjoint that can reach a C note. Ken makes some wonderful and interesting whistles!
Beautiful whistle p51baby! I’d love to try an SZBE, sadly due to where I’m from it is very difficult to acquire items outside the United States and the Philippines.
